Stone and Sand Aren't so Different
by Seasnake
Summary: Before the 100 year war with the Fire Nation a portion of the cost line and islands of the Avatar world decided to weaponize their chi/chakra and call themselves ninjas. Same world so slight changes to both maps. Slight changes in character backstories but tried to keep them in character. Gaara/Toph because that pairing is adorable. Sakura (Naruto not shipoden) and Azula bashing.
1. Gaara

**4 years ago:**

Night wasn't only cooler there were also fewer people around. For the latest generation of a family that lived in a desert, Gaara was shockingly pale. He could create shade with his sand but that just drew even more attention to himself. Now that he'd given up trying to interact with anyone, it was more convenient to go outside at night.

Loud curses in a thick accent drew his curiosity. A small girl, even thinner and paler than him, although her loose white dress added to the appearance, stood boldly in the middle of the playground. As Gaara watched she stomped her feet in a quick rhythm and made a jabbing motion with one hand. The packed earth in front of her shifted into a small pillar. This was apparently her goal, "Hah! Yes! Finally!" With a smile this time she stomped her heel. Nothing happened. She tried again and again nothing moved. "Go down you!" The swearing restarted.

Riveted by the display, Gaara shuffled a bit closer. The girl continued as if she didn't notice him. She shifted the dirt around her multiple times successfully. For some reason Gaara didn't want to disturb her so stayed silent. Without care she hiked up her skirt and squatted down to her hands and knees. She kept her knees, toes and hands in contact with the ground and started to slowly crawl in a circle.

At this point she suddenly took notice of his presence. She froze like a rabbit for half a second but quickly regained her confidence. "What?!" Still kneeling in the dirt, she turned to face him. When he didn't answer, she added, "Are you looking at me?"

"Yes." Really, what did she expect doing jutsu in public?

"Humph," she scoffed. She made as if to ignore him again but Gaara was no longer shy and wasn't done talking to her yet.

"You're practicing Earth Jutsu," he phrased it as a statement although it was really a question, he hadn't seen that type of jutsu before nor ever seen a girl ninja her age practicing alone at night.

"What? No, I'm a bender!" She glared in his direction. "Only you ninjas do jutsu, everyone else are benders." When he remained silent she gave an exasperated sigh.

"Nobody in this town's ever heard of bending? Father's right for once, you like to pretend nobody else exists." While rude she clearly wasn't afraid of him so Gaara didn't feel the need to kill her yet. With another sigh she explained, "Earth Bending, using your chi to control stone with your mind."

"Chi?"

"You call it something else, Cha-something."

"Chakra?"

"Yeah, that." When Gaara still didn't say anything she decided to introduce herself. "I'm Toph Beifong my parents are here talking to your king, leader, Kaz-thing because the 'Beifong family has long been the delegates for trade relations with the ninja nation'. They brought me so I don't run away again and the Kaz has kids for me to talk to." The dismissive way she spoke of his family ruined his short patience and he called his sand to life. "What's that?" Toph tilted her head, Gaara ignored her question and continued to gather sand around himself. "What's that noise? It sounds like sand?" To his surprise, she stood up and walked towards him, hands outstretched. He didn't know how to react to someone approaching his sand so he just stayed still. Toph's seeking hands made contact with the rings of sand floating around him. Rather than being disgusted and fleeing, like Gaara expected, her entire face lit up with excitement. "It is sand." She ran her fingers through the particles. Uncomfortable, Gaara pulled the sand away but she reached after it. "You're doing that? You're a sand bender. Ninja. Ninja sand bender." She determinately followed the tendrils of sand even as Gaara tried to move away. "Are you making it fly? How are you doing that?"

Gaara really didn't know what was going on and decided to put an end to it. "Go away or I'll kill you."

"The Kaz-man promised my safety," she answered calmly. Not eager to anger his father, Gaara changed tactics slightly.

"I kill people."

"Yeah," Toph didn't seem distressed by this news. In fact she seemed more annoyed by the fact that he kept removing his sand from her grasp. With a huff she gave up chasing his sand and turned to face him. "That's what ninjas do, go to school and learn to kill people." He'd never thought of it that way but she wasn't wrong. "What are you doing to bend the sand? Show me."

"No."

"Why not?" She was ready to argue with him but paused. "I hear someone coming." When she mentioned it, Gaara could see a few people walking towards the park. "Come on." Unexpectedly, Toph grabbed Gaara's arm and pulled him away from the playground.

Nobody ever touched him. Not willingly, not casually like this girl was doing. Dumbstruck, Gaara followed her down one of the side streets and between two buildings. Apparently this was private enough for her tastes because she spoke to him again.

"Don't tell anyone you saw me. My parents think I'm asleep. And don't tell anyone I can earthbend."

"I don't have anyone to tell."

"Good," she nodded but rather than releasing his arm she held it in both hands. "Now show me how you sand bend. Oh, is your skill a secret too? Alright if you don't tell anyone about meeting me I won't tell anyone about meeting you." When Gaara didn't say anything she gave him an annoyed look. "What?"

Not sure what else to do, Gaara pulled his sand in close. Toph shifted about as if listening intently. "Wow, you're hardly moving at all." She reached for his other hand to hold that one as well. Her touch was making Gaara uncomfortable but also feel oddly warm. "Do you have to move for jutsu?" Even as his sand coiled around them both, she didn't become scared. "You are making it float!" She released his hands so she could bat at the sand hanging above their heads. "That's incredible! Do it again! Wait, how old are you?"

"Seven."

"Good, I'm six. Now do it again."

For once his sand wasn't a demon weapon, it was dancing and making a girl laugh. She even tried to join him, scooping up handfuls and ordering them to move. She couldn't move sand like he could though, to her disappointment she could only affect the ground. Toph turned the ground into several pillars, more solid than his shifting sand. Lost in their game, Gaara was trying to condense his sand into a solid mass while Toph kept trying to control something in the air. Then, Toph heard something that got her attention.

"Wait, what time is it? Is it morning?" Gaara glanced around and then nodded. The sun was rising. "It is? I've got to go." She turned away but Gaara snatched her sleeve and his sand wrapped around her ankle. "What?" She gave him an annoyed but still unafraid expression.

"No."

"I've got to go. My parents can't know I snuck out."

"I don't want you to leave."

"I don't want to either but they're my parents."

"I'll kill them."

"You can't kill my parents," Toph chided. She gave her limbs a tug but Gaara didn't release her. "I mean it, we're meeting with the Kaz again today." At the mention of his father, Gaara reluctantly let go of her. "I'll be back tomorrow," she flashed him a quick grin, not offended by his grabbiness.

Gaara watched her go and followed at a distance. He sat across the street when she climbed into the first story window of a guest house. He didn't move for over an hour as the villagers started to wake up and come outside. Through the windows he could see lights come on in the house but couldn't tell if it was Toph. Around mid-morning, his siblings and father appeared. They approached the house to knock on the door. Gaara fled before his father saw him lurking.

Fear of his father or not, Gaara was back at the house by sundown. Toph didn't disappoint him and climbed out the window shortly after the lights were turned off.

"Hey, you never told me your name," Toph said in lieu of proper greeting.

"Gaara."

"Gaara, will you practice with me?"

 **Present: Before the Chunin exams**

"Kankuro, what are you doing?" Gaara separated from his siblings for a quick bathroom break only to catch up to them and find Kankuro trying to bully three kids and three Leaf genin. He climbed a tree to see what the fuss was then glared at his brother while upsidedown. "Starting a fight with children is an embarrassment to our village. Have you forgotten the reason we came all the way here?"

"Of course not, they're the ones who started it," Kankuro complained.

"To be provoked so easily, sounds like you need more training." Kankuro gave an offended huff and glanced to Temari for help but she just turned her head away.

"I told you I didn't have anything to do with this," she said dismissively.

"I apologize for any trouble he caused," Gaara addressed the strongest of the three leaf genin. He came down from the tree and was ready to leave except the female leaf genin wanted to see their paperwork. She had an annoying voice, not like Toph or Temari, like the village girls who would dare each other to approach Gaara. He let Temari tell her they were there for the Chunin exams.

"Wait you, what's your name," the strongest of the leaf genin called after them this time.

"Who me?" Temari was quick to answer and in a higher pitched tone than she usually used, which confused Gaara, did she know something he didn't?

"Not you, the boy with the gourd on his back." Gaara turned to look at the genin boy. He was strong, would probably be in the Chunin exam and definitely an influential member of the Fire Land when older. Best to know his name.

"I'm Gaara of The Desert. And the ninja you just dismissed is Temari," Kankuro had already effectively introduced himself. "I'm curious about you as well, who are you?"

 **4 years ago:**

The third night of Toph's visit Gaara dozed off while waiting for her. He'd all but forsaken his bed completely, lying down just made the night terrors worse. What sleep he could get usually came in the form of naps propped up in corners. Sleeping on rooftops or open air helped too, it was less claustrophobic and the demon couldn't smother him as easily.

"Hey," sound and a touch at his shoulder startled him out of his nightmare. Instinctively he lashed out. Toph's shout of surprise and pain woke him completely. "What was that for?" The girl had a cut on one arm but wasn't as injured as she could have been.

"I'm sorry," Gaara stood up and started to walk away.

"Did you have a nightmare? I fell out of bed once, my parents…hey where are you going?"

"Get away from me," Gaara ordered but Toph didn't obey. He whipped his sand around him into a small storm of sharp cutting edges. Toph finally took the hint and backed away.

"If you're going to be a baby about it, fine!" She shouted angrily and stomped away.

 **Present: Written exam:**

Gaara filled out the wrong answers on his test and purposefully set it aside so the genin with the not-so-subtle-wandering-eyes next to him could copy it. He then spent the majority of the test time wondering how they would test Toph if she were to take the exam. Reading couldn't be mandatory he'd heard of high level ninja that had lost one or both eyes. Also, if Toph could learn to use the third eye jutsu, would she be able to see? It probably depend on if her optic nerve worked. Was it just her eyes that were damaged, the nerves, or even part of her brain? If she could, how would she understand sight? Seeing colors for the first time? Gaara had learned the third eye jutsu specifically for this Chunin test. He hadn't had a chance to show it to Toph. He should, see if she wanted to give it a try.

After the boy sitting next to him was dismissed, Gaara scattered a small amount of his sand on the floor. By keeping it flattened and spread thin into almost individual grains he could pass notes to Temari without anyone noticing. Kankuro had an elaborate plan involving his puppet dressed up as one of the proctors so Gaara didn't help him.

Predictably, all three of them passed the written portion of the exam which was really a test of their spying abilities.

"What was that? You were almost late," Temari complained to Kankuro after the test. "Where were you?"

"I was in the bathroom."

"I thought that was a story to get out of the room. You didn't actually take the time to piss did you?"

"I didn't see you doing anything productive," Kankuro retorted.

"Turns out we didn't have to. We could have sat in silence the whole time and still passed," Temari pointed out.

"Yeah, Toph would have aced that test," joked Kankuro. Gaara shot him a murderous glare. "What? I didn't say she was dumb."

"She could also kill you without any effort."

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

 **4 years ago:**

"Hey."

Gaara startled from his glum daydream. He hadn't expected to see Toph again after scaring her away but she had somehow sought him out. She walked over to him, more than close enough for him to attack, as if she wasn't frightened. "Thought you'd like to know, I'm leaving tomorrow." Even though he didn't care, something in Gaara's stomach twisted. Gaara forcefully turned his face away, intent to ignore her until she left.

"Back to being mute, now?" Instead, Toph sat down next to him. "You're an awesome sand bender, sure you don't want to show me more?" He didn't say anything so she kept talking. "I haven't told anyone we met, and I won't, as long as you don't." They sat in silence a while before she sighed and said, "I hope my parents will let me come next year. This is the first time they've taken me outside. They're so afraid I'll run away again they brought me with them," she laughed at the last part.

"You ran away?" The question slipped out without Gaara's permission.

"Yeah, I went to live with the badger moles. It's how I learned earthbending," Toph was grinning up at the sky as she said this. "My parents freaked out, I didn't think they'd be so worried. Now they don't let me out of their sight, more so than usual anyway. But they don't know I can see so they leave me alone at night. Maybe if they knew they'd let me leave or," she sighed, "they'd just watch me even closer. They don't let me do anything." Gaara pretended he wasn't listening but she didn't seem to mind. "I'm guessing your family's not around so I won't ask."

"Don't ask," Gaara agreed.

"Alright." Toph flopped onto her back. "This sand is harder to see through than normal dirt. Hey, I wonder if you'd have the same problem at my house, because you're used to sand and I'm used to stone." She picked up a few handfuls of sand from the ground and bent them between her palms. "Can we be friends?"

"You don't want to be friends with me."

"You can't decide that for me. And I'm sick of not having friends." Toph sat up and slugged him in the shoulder. Not enough to really hurt but Gaara was still surprised that his sand didn't block the contact. "We are now friends. Training partners at least."

"I don't believe you," Gaara had learned not to trust anyone. Toph considered that for a moment then shrugged.

"I can't tell you what to do. Fine, don't believe me. You could have been my first friend. Your loss."

"I don't need any friends."

Her mood changed quickly. "Yeah! You're right!" Toph seemed inspired by this last statement. "I'll become the best earth bender in the world whether you help me train or not."

 **Present: Forest:**

"Too bad kids, you should have picked your opponents better now you're all going to die," a rain genin several years their senior taunted them.

"That's enough out of you. Let's make this quick, I don't want to waste time on this one," Gaara spoke to the rain genin he had confronted and then to his siblings.

"Hey Gaara, doesn't it make sense to follow these punks and gather information first? I mean, if they have the same type of scroll as us we're just fighting an unnecessary battle," Kankuro said.

"I want the exercise, it's been days since I last fought. Besides, a conceited untalented ninja who enjoys killing those weaker than him, he's exactly the kind of person this world needs less of." Gaara glared at the rain village genin, clearly a bully and without a female on his team so probably sexist too. If there was one thing he hated more than bullies who used their powers to hurt others (or force them to be the host of a demon) it was a bully who dismissed his fiancée and his sister just because they were female.

The rain ninja summoned a rainstorm of needles which Gaara didn't have to expend any effort to block. "Is that all you can do?"

"He's creating a wall of sand," the rain genin remarked needlessly.

"That's right, it's a defense that nothing can get through. He carries around all that sand in the gourd on his back and when he's attacked he uses his chakra to harden that sand."

"Kankuro, if you want to brag, fright them yourself," Gaara cut him off.

"It's not like you're going to explain. Only ever seen you show off for one person," Kankuro answered.

"Don't ignore me!" The rain genin decided to charge.

"Sand coffin!" Gaara caught him easily.

"Hey let me go," he whined, not so tough now.

"All I have to do is cover your big mouth and you'll be dead." Gaara picked up one of the dropped umbrellas. "But that would be too messy and leave behind a rotting corpse." Gaara opened the umbrella it was a bit too big for what he had in mind but he could still use it now. "Sand burial." He crushed the genin and watched the other two rain bullies become completely demoralized. "There wasn't any pain. I crushed him with more force than was necessary so it was over quickly. Probably a better end than he deserved."

"Just take the scroll. You can have it. Just please spare us!" One of the remaining genin set his scroll on the ground.

Gaara turned his back on them to look at his siblings. "Unless you want them."

"Their jutsu won't even be a challenge against me," Temari shrugged.

"Humph, let them starve in the forest," Kankuro said callously and approached. "Hey! Didn't you hear us? Scram before we change our minds!" He ordered when they didn't immediately flee. With a few whimpers they took the hint and ran into the underbrush. Gaara tossed the umbrella aside in favor of the headband his sand carried to him. Purposefully spared from the sand burial but a bit blood stained. His sand deposited it in his waiting palm.

"Another trophy, Gaara?" Temari asked. "What are you going to do collect one from every village?" That was actually a good idea.

"Yes." He folded the cloth over the metal and stashed it in a secure pocket of his clothes.

"We're in luck, it's a heaven scroll," Kankuro spoke up. He held the scroll Gaara had just won for them. "Alright, now let's head to the tower."

"Already? We've been here an hour."

"Come on, Gaara let's go," Kankuro argued.

"You're so lazy. This is the perfect opportunity to train."

"Look Gaara I know this test is no big deal for you but it's dangerous for Temari and me. One set of scrolls is good enough. It's all we need to pass."

"We also have five days. Do you think I'd let either of you get hurt? I'm the one doing all the work on this team."

"What was that?" Kankuro took offense at that.

"You rely too much on me and you know it. This is ideal terrain for your jutsu, take out some enemies on your own."

"Hah, maybe I will. Remind you who's the older brother here." So predictable, if Gaara wasn't related to this idiot he would have killed him years ago. But no, he was his brother and Gaara loved him even if he was a total dumbass.

"I'd rather not experiment in trees for the first time under such circumstances, but if you insist," shrugged Temari. Her fan probably would be less effective in a jungle than in the rolling sand dunes.

"Hey, let's head to the tower anyway. We can wait for other teams there and turn in before it gets dark. I don't want to spend the night out here," said Kankuro

"And then you'll whine for four days about having nothing to do," Gaara complained.

"They won't force us to stay the whole time will they?" said Temari as she and Kankuro began to stroll towards the tower. Gaara was about to follow them when he heard something from the bushes. He couldn't see anything but training with Toph had taught him to trust his ears.

"Gaara? You coming?" Kankuro complained. Gaara gave a silent head jerk and a telling look in the direction of the undergrowth. Getting the message, both his siblings smirked. Gaara stepped back to indicate that he wasn't going to be the one to attack first. Temari took the imitative while Kankuro circled around to flank the group. She unsheathed her weapon quietly then in a quick movement created wind to slice through the underbrush. Three genin were forced from their cover with startled shouts.

"Crap!" One of them exclaimed. The girl just looked frightened. But the boy in dark glasses quickly righted himself.

"I don't want to die, yet." He said then brought his hands together for jutsu. Gaara was expecting a lot but not swarms of insects or giant leaches to rain from the trees. His sand leapt to protect him but judging by Kankuro's screams he was the only one. Temari blew away most of the flying insects but had to stop to stab the leeches.

"Get 'em off me!" Kankuro flailed about uselessly. The three genin bolted but chasing them wasn't worth his stupid brother getting eaten so Gaara let them go.

He wrapped a layer of sand around Kankuro then tightened it with just enough crushing force to smash any insects but not bruise a human.

"Ew, Gaara, bug guts." Kankuro whined and shook dead insects out of his clothes.

"Stop complaining."

"Beaten by flies? Who's the big brother?" Temari smirked at Kankuro's wailing.

"Shut up. Did you let them get away?" Kankuro looked around and noticed their prey had vanished.

"And whose fault is that?" Temari and Gaara gave their brother unimpressed glares to remind him. Kankuro deflated at their justified ire and trudged over to where he had dropped Crow in his haste.

 **3 years ago:**

Toph did visit Sunagakure again the next year. Only because he had nothing else to do, Gaara hid and watched her from a distance. She found a deserted street to practice her bending. She'd improved greatly in the past year, the packed earth shifted obediently without her having to shout at it.

"You know, Gaara" Toph spoke for the first time that night, "you could say hi." She looked in Gaara's direction.

"How did you know it was me?" Gaara asked.

"I didn't notice last year, but you're covered in sand." Toph walked closer to him. "I can see all of you actually. I can't do that with anyone else yet. I just feel their weight, but you…" She smiled then held up one hand to indicate his height. "You're this tall and have short hair."

This statement, and how proud she seemed of it, confused him. It was night but there was plenty of light to see. Then he noticed that she wasn't really looking at him. Curious he shifted to his right but she still didn't focus her eyes on him.

"Yep, still blind," she knew what he was doing regardless.

"Still blind?"

"What? Really?" Toph figured it out and smirked. "You never guessed?"

"I just didn't know that was possible," Gaara said defensively. It was true, he'd only ever heard of people with blindness due to injury and loss of eyes.

"Yeah," Toph vigorously waved a hand in front of her own face. "Something happened to my eyes before I was born. It's why my parents treat me like a baby." Gaara frowned but doubted her phrasing intentionally paralleled his own life, besides he had something more important to ask.

"Then how can you see me?"

"With my feet." Toph proudly raised one bare foot to show off. "I can feel the ground. I can feel people standing on it, moving, even heartbeats if I try. You can feel your sand when you move it, right? It's the same thing." As Gaara considered that she continued. "I'm getting better at sensing stone when it's not touching the ground." She stepped in close and held up a hand to touch him. Gaara indulged her and met her hand half way, holding up some of his sand for her to touch. "I can feel your sand," Toph confirmed then frowned as her fingers twisted through it ineffectually. "But I can't bend it."

"It's not normal sand, it's infused with my chakra. It moves on its own, to defend me."

"So you've got a constant bend on it?" Toph ran both hands over the sand he levitated for her and then to his arms. Gaara tensed as she caressed up his shoulders towards his face. "You have sand on your face too, I can almost tell what you look like."

"Don't," he flinched away.

"Why not?" she sounded so hurt that he changed his mind. What was the harm? If she wanted to hurt him she could have done it sooner, and if his sand didn't scare her off his face probably wouldn't.

"Just be quick." He closed his eyes as she gently traced his features with her fingers.

"What's this?" she ran the pad of her thumb over his forehead again.

"A scar."

"Where from?"

"I did it," he answered quietly.

"Why?"

"So I could remember." She must have understood his tone of voice because she didn't inquire further.

 **Present:**

"Damn it." Kankuro hissed as they stumbled into the tower anteroom. "This is all your fault, Gaara." Gaara and his siblings trudged into the safe zone bruised and tired.

"We won didn't we," Gaara answered his brother. He braced one forearm against the nearest wall to catch his breath. The demon's chakra was still making his stomach turn. That had been a good fight up until he had to use Shukaku.

"Barely," Kankuro grumbled. "I told you I didn't want to stay out there all night. We should have just gone to the tower."

Temari took a few deep breaths and wiped her bloodied chin but still wore a small grin. "Huff, those two were tough." She could appreciate a challenge, unlike Kankuro who wanted an easy win all the time. "Now I understand all the fuss about that Hyuga clan." Gaara mentally concurred, that leaf genin hadn't gotten close enough to hit Gaara's pressure points like he did to Temari and Kankuro, but he would just not go down. Gaara wanted to see him fight Toph. Have Toph burry him under a mountain of stone, see his fancy little spinning defense technique save him from that.

They had been heading towards the tower without urgency and had already defeated a weak team from the lightning village when they almost literally bumped into a leaf genin in a green jumpsuit. He was stupidly separated from his team and a prime target for an easy elimination. However, he proved to be surprisingly strong and fast, even more so after Kankuro hit him with a poison cloud and he decided that he needed to remove his leg weights and finish the fight quickly before the poison took him out. Gaara was the only one fast enough to fight him, and even then his sand could barely keep up with his fast blows. Gaara had ended up kicking off his sandals and using the earth sight Toph had taught him to try and track the taijutsu that was faster than his eyes could follow. It was only a little better than relying on his eyes and all he managed to do was brace for blows he couldn't dodge. Because Gaara was busy, Kankuro and Temari fought the leaf genin's teammates when they finally arrived.

Temari easily bested the female genin on their team. The leaf village girl used throwing weapons which was a poor match for Temari's wind jutsu. Which was fortunate because Kankuro needed her help almost immediately. The Hyuga genin could see the inner-workings of Crow and figured out how to dismantle the puppet, then he easily picked out Kankuro's hiding spot in the trees.

The Hyuga had beat the tar out of both Temari and Kankuro and hit most of their chakra points by the time Gaara managed to fend off the taijutsu user and help them. The fight might have been harder except the taijutsu genin and the Hyuga didn't work as a team, instead they squabbled over who should fight Gaara. Gaara had to defeat them both and defend his siblings who tried to help but could only throw the occasional kuni with most of their chakra disabled.

A few cruel words from the Hyuga about Gaara's skill and how his unconscious female teammate was a weak woman and women were clearly weaker in combat, broke Gaara's already strained patience. He lost his grasp on Shukaku long enough for the demon to flood his body with its chakra. He ended up shattering GreenJumpsuit's leg and slamming the Hyuga into a tree hard enough to crack the trunk and leave the ninja with a concussion and at least one broken bone.

Temari collected their scroll, Kankuro collected the pieces of Crow, and then they left the female leaf genin to gather her injured teammates and carry them to someplace safe.

Gaara made a mental list of things to learn when he got back home. First, find somebody with taijutsu to train against. Also learn all of his own chakra points and the major chakra points for Temari and Kankuro so he would know what points to press to reactivate chakra if they went up against a pressure point using opponent again.

"What are you so happy about?" Kankuro growled at his siblings and dropped what was left of his puppet onto the cement.

"You can fix it, they've got to give us a break after this." Temari told him then checked on Gaara. Gaara wasn't up to talking, still trying to get his raging chakra under control. Temari wisely left him alone.

"Let's just finish this." Kankuro pulled out the two scrolls he was carrying. When he opened them it summoned their Jonin team leader.

"That took you longer than expected," Baki eyed the three. Temari flashed him the two extra scrolls they had collected. This turned his frown into a small grin. "Well, then."

 **3 years ago:**

Gaara hung back, quietly sulking and seething to watch while Toph sat with his siblings. Father had charged Temari to entertain the visitor with 'girl talk'. The girls sat together and played with dolls while Kankuro hovered nearby.

He wasn't bothering them but Kankuro still frowned when he spotted Gaara. Kankuro made shooing motions at him and mouthed at him to go away. Then Temari noticed all this going on and joined in the pantomime by pointing at Toph and mouthing at Gaara to 'please go away a guest is here'. Gaara ignored them but Toph did not.

"Why are you waving at him?" Toph's question earned her surprised looks.

"You can see us?"

"You know him?"

"You know him!" Toph countered.

"That's Gaara, how do you know him?" Temari asked again.

"How do you know him?" Toph demanded, clearly divulging nothing until she was answered.

"Uh…" When they hesitated to say, Gaara spoke up.

"They're my siblings."

"What?! Gaara's your brother and you didn't say anything? You said you didn't have any other family. Do you pretend he doesn't exist?" Something about this last sentence really made her angry. "Jerks! Buttholes!" She widened her stance and Gaara braced for an attack but his siblings are clueless and were completely surprised when Toph stomped one heel and the ground swallowed them.

Temari and Kankuro shouted in surprise when they both found themselves trapped up to the chest in hard paving stones. "Hah!" Toph nodded in approval. "Stay there until you learn some manners," she gave what was probably a quote from her parents. She walked past both trapped siblings. Without pausing, she grabbed Gaara's hand and pulled him with her down the street. They got ten feet away then she remembered something and turned around. She led Gaara back to his siblings and said, "Don't tell anyone I have earthbending or I'll crush you." She then changed back to her original direction. Gaara gave a final glance at his godsmacked siblings then followed Toph. "That was correct, right? Mom says diplomacy changes from culture to culture. I figure here, you make threats."

"Yes," Gaara wasn't sure what else to say. His brain wasn't firing on all cylinders at the moment because he was still trying to grasp that someone had just defended him like that.

 **Present:  
** "Seriously?" Temari whined as they climbed the stairs to the spectator platforms. Unscheduled one on one matches against the remaining teams were about to begin. "Ugh, we should have taken out more teams in the forest. I don't blame that leaf genin for leaving." Only one boy had taken the offer to bow out of the matches. Which left them with an odd number of combatants.

Looking around the room, Gaara spared a final glare to the three leaf team who had given them the slip using insects. The team was suitably frightened and flinched when they noticed his gaze. Sasuke Uchiha and his teammates had been angrily whispering to each other, now the girl gave him a concerned look before retreating to the top floor.

"You are so unbelievably lucky that Baki brought me extra parts," Kankuro grumbled at Gaara. Crow, mostly repaired, was again on his back.

"You should work on your bad habit of making empty threats," Gaara returned easily. Just because Gaara wouldn't kill Kankuro didn't mean he would be pushed around.

"Quiet, will you?" Temari shushed them as Sasuke took the metaphorical stage. Gaara looked at her questionably.

"Don't ask, it's a girl thing," Kankuro explained her enthusiasm.

From what he could sense of Sasuke's chakra levels, Gaara expected a better showing from him. Perhaps Gaara needed to train more in Toph's earth sight and sensing chakra. Either that or Sasuke had been seriously injured in the forest. Either way, it didn't seem to dampen Temari's enthusiasm for the fight.

After Sasuke won and was led away by his jonin tutor, the second match was randomly selected. Gaara didn't know who he would fight nor did he really care. Kankuro and Temari were both rearing to beat the leaf genin that had fled from them in the forest. And judging by their petrified expressions, that was exactly what the three of them did not want. The leaf genin who could summon insects did go next, but against a sound ninja, not one of them. Kankuro was rooting for the sound genin but the bug user won regardless.

"Turns out he's strong after all. Now you don't have to feel so bad," Temari teased Kankuro.

"Shut up, he beat you too." Gaara ignored them as Kankuro's name was selected next. "Finally, it's my turn." Gaara gave him a glare for being overly enthusiastic.

Kankuro's opponent could perform some form of contortionist jutsu. Gaara expected Kankuro to quit, he wasn't about to lay down his life to please Father, as Toph put it 'laziness is how he gets back at your dad. None of us like our parents. I run away, you scare people, and Kankuro's lazy.' When Kankuro didn't surrender Gaara figured something had to be up, Temari still flinched next to him when the genin broke Kankuro's neck. Gaara took the opportunity to remind himself that if his stupid brother got himself killed then it wasn't Gaara's fault and he shouldn't feel bad about it. Regardless, as expected, Kankuro had dressed Crow up as himself before hand and switched places with the puppet.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Kankuro grinned as he rejoined them on the balcony.

"Okay, that was a little clever," Temari humored him.

 **1 year ago:**

"You owe me so much for this," Kankuro rejoined Gaara after speaking with the guests.

"What did they say?" Gaara didn't have time for Kankuro's whining.

"Political reasons, purity of bloodline, money. Overall they were thoroughly unimpressed."

"Did you ask them?" He may have sounded a little frantic at that point.

"Yeah, yeah. Hypothetically, the 'proposal' would be a 'noble one' and they would 'consider it'."

"They didn't say no?"

"They didn't say no." Kankuro confirmed. "Don't fret about it, I get the feeling Toph will do whatever the heck she wants. Whether or not her parents approve."

"If I'm Kazekage they'll have to let us get married," Gaara said mostly to himself. Already, starting to plan.

"Except now they think I want to marry her. I mean it, you owe me big time."

 **Present:**

Gaara was toughly unimpressed with several of the combatants thus far. The remaining two members of the bug genin's team went. Sasuke Uchiha's blonde teammate fought the boy with a dog and barely won. The kunichi of their team turned out to be another Hyruga. She was younger and didn't have as good of chakra control as the boy Gaara had fought. She defeated her leaf genin opponent after countering her mind transfer jutsu, Gaara hadn't seen that technique before. He didn't worry about it, though, if someone tried a mind transfer with him he'd just release Shukaku.

"Two matches left," Temari did a quick head count. "Good chance one of us will be the odd man out," she said to Gaara. He glanced at her to acknowledge he'd heard but didn't say anything. "Oh, spoke too soon," she corrected when Gaara's name was selected next.

He walked down the stairs to find the pink leaf genin from several days ago. He couldn't quite get a read on her chakra levels so he subtly pressed one toe against the floor. She had bold chakra but it was buried deep like she was either hiding it or hadn't bothered to learn to use it. He used the sand resting on his feet to loosen his sandals, in case he needed to remove them. Several of the leaf genin were muttering amongst themselves from the spectator railing.

"Look at that scrawny kid, Sakura will beat him in no time." The loud blonde leaf genin said. Which Kankuro just had to respond to.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." Gaara sent his brother a warning glare, he better not spend this whole fight narrating Gaara's every move. Why not just tell the strangers that he was also an insomniac and engaged to an earthbender?

"Begin."

The girl experimentally threw kuni at him. He pulled his sand out of his gourd to shield him and spread a fair amount on the floor so he could use it later. She used typical ninja moves against him. A few punches and kicks, throwing weapons, nothing special. He didn't even need to watch her, with eyes or earth sense. The next time she kicked his sand shield he wrapped it around her ankle and used it to hurl her across the room into a wall. That should be enough to get her to stop playing. This time she came at him with shadow clones and a chakra enhanced punch. Not an easy technique, but she barely tapped her chakra reserves. Gaara glared and knocked her back with a wave of sand. This wasn't an act, she was really just painfully weak.

"This is pathetic." He was fighting a little girl. She had the skill of a barely trained child. She wasn't the worst in this competition but the Uchiha must have carried her for her to get this far. "You're not ready for this exam. Surrender before I kill you."

"Do it, Sakura! He'll kill you," The Hyruga girl shouted.

"Yeah, don't be an idiot!" the boy with the dog agreed. They'd seen what Gaara could do and understandably tried to save the life of a kunoichi from their village.

"Go, Sakura, you can do it!" her blonde teammate cheered.

The pink girl considered this, glancing at her supporters and at Gaara. He waited for her to decide. He didn't try to hide his chakra levels, if she had any skill at all then she'd be able to sense it. And judging by the way she bit her lip, she did sense it. If she had half a brain she'd surrender, or her friend or her Jonin teacher would call the match.

She touched her hair as if that had some significance then decided, "I can't give up." She pulled out another kuni with resolve. This wasn't even a suicide attempt, just idiocy. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't spare her now, Baki would report any perceived 'weakness' to his father.

"Sand coffin," he waited until she ran at him a third time then wrapped her up. He didn't pause before transitioning into the next move. "Sand burial." The girl screamed and the room let out a collective gasp.

"Damn it, I told her."

"Oh no."

"What?"

"Sakura!" The leaf genin had various shocked reactions.

Gaara didn't hear any of it, because the girl's scream was still echoing in his head, for a brief second she had sounded like Toph. Memories of when he'd accidentally hurt her or his siblings flooded his vision. Suddenly, it was Toph's unique and brilliant chakra that he had just snuffed out. He clutched his head in pain, fighting back the waves of despair mixed with Shukaku's glee.

Back on the upper level. "Has Gaara ever killed a girl?" Temari stage whispered to Kankuro.

"I don't think so, why-oh great." Both siblings vaulted over the balcony railing.

Temari crouched next to her brother. "Gaara? Gaara it's okay, Toph's not here." She reached for him cautiously. When his sand didn't attack, she held his shoulders reassuringly.

"It was just a leaf girl, pull yourself together." Kankuro offered assurance in his own way.

They weren't the only ones to jump down to check on their teammate. The loud blonde shouted as he looked for his teammate's remains. There weren't any as Gaara had again used more force than necessary. "You. How could you do that to Sakura? She was my friend. She was my best friend, I loved her!"

"Liar," Gaara startled everyone by speaking up. "If you really cared about her, she would have been stronger." He was still clutching his head but speaking about something he knew with confidence was calming him down. "She was insultingly weak and full of herself, I had to kill her." He explained his actions, which he would have appreciated if someone managed to kill one of his few family/friends or acquaintances, instead this seemed to make the blonde boy angrier.

"You bastard!" He took a few aggressive steps forward but a leaf Jonin stopped him. "Kakashi-sensai?"

"This was a battle to the death, Sakura knew what she was getting into."

Gaara called his scattered sand back to order and stood up. Temari and Kankuro stepped back slightly now that he was better. His sand also carried the girl's headband to him. He would take it as a trophy, same as the others. He wouldn't treat this opponent differently just because she was female or because she had unnerved him. He hated sexism and he wouldn't become what he hated.

"Is that…That's Sakura's don't touch that!" This time the Jonin held him back by the collar of his jumpsuit. "He can't just take that can he?"

"Actually he can. It's an old tradition. Not considered good practice anymore. Now a days it's polite to let it be passed down to remaining family," the jonin gave Gaara a pointed look but didn't release his student.

Gaara wouldn't be lectured by this guy. "If you cared about her, why didn't you stop the match?" He phrased it as a question, for sake of politeness to one's elders, even though it wasn't. When the Jonin glared but didn't challenge Gaara's insubordination, he left the conversation at that and headed back to the stairs. Both his siblings gave a final look to the leaf nin then followed.

The entire room stayed silent, it was like they hadn't seen death before. One team of leaf genin, the shadow user, blonde, and fat kid were particularly distraught and all either crying or on the verge of tears. The test proctor gave a pointed cough.

When no one was looking at them anymore, Temari touched his arm. She didn't have to say anything for Gaara to answer.

"I'm fine." She gave him a final look over, Kankuro also sneaked a concerned sideways glance that Gaara pretended not to notice. Then they turned back to the match, trusting him. Two of the three people who put any faith in him.

 **1 year ago: A conversation:**

"What color is your hair?"

"Red."

"What color are your eyes?"

"Blue."

"Blue like the sky or blue like water?"

"The sky."

"Hm," she pondered this for a moment. "Does that 'clash' with me? Mom says my eyes are white and unusual."

"No," Gaara said more forcefully than he meant to. "You're beautiful." He didn't mention that she blushed, even if she felt her cheeks warm she didn't need to know he could see it.

 **Present: Post Exam:**

Gaara sat on the roof in Konahoa. This was their last day in the leaf village. Tomorrow they'd be heading home, he could write and send a letter to Toph. Carefully worded of course, her parents would have to read it to her. Regardless, he wanted to tell her about the exam. She'd actually write back, offer congratulations, unlike Father.

Temari and Kankuro were sleeping soundly below, still worn out from all the excitement. Gaara had managed a nap before the sun set and he was forced to retreat outside. The night breeze here was warmer than back home and smelt of growing things. The echo of footsteps caught his attention. The sound ninja from the chunin exam was walking towards him.

"What do we have here? Don't you ever sleep?" The sound ninja said. That struck a nerve, a bad night to do that.

"What do you want?"

"I was planning on attacking you while you slept." Good thing he wasn't downstairs with Temari and Kankuro then. "If I defeat you now then in the next battle I can face the one I really want to fight, Sasuke. I already know all about your sand attack. I wonder which is faster, your sand, or my sound."

"When the moon is full."

"Hm?"

"When the moon is full, its blood boils." Gaara gave up on trying to hold back Shukaku. He released the demon long enough for it to gleefully destroy the sound ninja but forcefully reigned it in before it could jump off the roof in search of more victims.

Gaara knelt on the roof, panting. He could feel Shukaku laughing at him. This was going to be a long night.

 **3 years ago:**

"Take me outside the wall." Once Temari and Kankuro also knew about her earthbending, Toph spent her days ordering them around and her nights exploring with Gaara.

"I don't think we're allowed."

"I need to practice seeing in sand."

"We can't."

"Here, we'll take you to the training grounds. That's still technically part of the city. If anyone asks, we'll tell them you wanted to hear us train." Eldest sibling Temari managed to be the peacekeeper.

"And Gaara just tagged along?" Kankuro glared at him.

"I can bury you again if you like," Toph didn't hesitate to snark back.

They walked towards the training grounds until suddenly Toph started hopping. "Ow, ow! Why's it so hot?" She jumped into Gaara's arms, like she expected him to fix the offending desert sand. Instead he just dumbly held her, more with his sand than his arms.

"Yeah, it's the sun, Toph."

"You stupid sighted people and your stupid sun! I hate it. Why can't we sleep during the day?"

"It's annoying," Gaara agreed. Kankuro shook his head at them.

"Grr," Toph resolutely stepped back down on the sand.

"You're going to burn your feet," Temari pointed out. They'd already had the discussion of why she hated shoes and therefore didn't suggest she put another pair on.

"Yes, blisters. But then they'll be calluses." She gritted her teeth and kept walking. "So, training grounds." Gaara subtly tried to give her shade with his sand. "Stop that, I'm not weak." She complained, but an hour later and she was asking for the shade.

 **Present: Finals of the chunin exam:**

It was probably a good thing Toph wasn't here. If it was just a test he would have wanted her support but Father had turned this into a military offensive.

Uchiha had learned taijutsu in the month recess. Perhaps he'd heard of Gaara's difficultly with the other taijutsu user in the forest. Gaara wasn't sure if he should be flattered his opponent had researched him or insulted that his opponent assumed that he hadn't done research of his own.

It didn't take much chakra to turn the sand that would have blocked the strikes anyway into sharp edges. When the boy came close he whipped up a small sand storm that slashed at any limbs that came too close, covering him completely rather than attempting to react to impossibly fast movements. The ground here favored him as well, the grass and dirt hid much of the sand he spread out.

Uchiha quickly caught wise and changed his technique slightly, adding weapons to his offensive. A combination of kuni and taijutsu was harder to guard against because the weapons could break through the lighter, cutting whirlwind that defended against fists. Gaara made do and waited for the boy to slow down. When he took a break, he inadvertently stepped in a pile of dirt and Gaara's sand. Got him. He was too fast for sand coffin but he didn't notice when Gaara hardened the sand around his sandal. He moved his hands to harden the sand on the ground. The thin layer of particles transformed into long needles, aimed at Uchiha. He made to jump out of the way, and would have succeeded but Gaara already had a hold of his sandal. Sasuke stumbled for a second but quickly regained his balance and pulled his foot free. He leapt to the wall of the arena but not without avoiding injury. He stood on the vertical wall, to catch his breath, bleeding from several wounds on his hands and feet. Gaara stayed where he was, spreading an obvious layer of sand all across the ground. He could wait for his opponent to come closer.

Uchiha was obviously taking a second to plan so Gaara spared a glance up at his siblings. No word on the attack yet? They shook their heads. Temari also flashed him a quick grin for doing so well against his opponent.

The boy preformed hand symbols then crouched into position to charge an attack. It would be best to try and disrupt his concentration, but Gaara didn't want to lose any sand when he would probably need it to guard. Good thing he brought extra weapons. He pulled a dozen kuni from his sash and dropped them into the waiting sand at his feet. A trick he and Toph had designed together. He used tendrils of sand as a slingshot, to throw the kuni harder than he could unaided. He threw them in an arc to catch the ninja if he tried to dodge. He took half a step to the side, allowing two kuni to scratch him rather than break his concentration.

Uchiha finished his technique, something Gaara didn't recognize. He held a palm full of lightning that sounded like a swarm of birds. With his taijutsu, Gaara wouldn't be fast enough to dodge so he brought his hands together. The sand on the ground readied to grab his opponent and he called the rest into a shield. Sasuke charged. He held his palm the front of him, cutting a path through Gaara's sand trap. He threw whatever chakra he could into his shield but Sasuke's hand broke through regardless.

Gaara was bleeding, for the first time in his life he was bleeding! He wanted his mother, he wanted his siblings, he wanted Toph. Gaara realized he was screaming, when was the last time he had shouted? Without permission, Shukaku lashed out with the sand still surrounding them. Sasuke was forced to retreat from the angry organic claw. Gaara quickly bit his cheek and bit back Shukaku's chakra, no weakness in front of his father. Without a command, his sand collected against his wounded shoulder, stopping the flow of blood if not the pain.

Uchiha studied him with red eyes. Gaara tried not to show the turmoil in his head. Shukaku growled and paced like the wounded animal he was, demanding to be released. Gaara didn't know if he could hold him for the rest of the match. He didn't have an opportunity to find out before the genjutsu for the attack was cast on the crowd.

Uchiha looked around in confusion and Gaara smirked even as he held his injured shoulder. His siblings landing next to him.

"Sorry to cut your match sort, Gaara," Baki was enjoying this. "But our forces are waiting for you."

"Won't even spare a bandage on your 'trump card'?" Gaara took a second to remind Baki that he was not one of the three people Gaara liked.

"Patch him up on the way to the village," Baki told Temari.

"What is going on, tell me!" Uchiha shouted as the leaf village proctor joined them in the arena.

"Is the host of this party, Orochimaru?" The leaf Jonin spoke up. Gaara didn't recognize that name and glanced to Baki who answered.

"Don't know, don't care," he smirked at the leaf nin then glanced back at the three siblings. "Go, you know your part in the operation."

"Yes, sensai." His siblings nodded and prepared to leap away.

Gaara also tensed his legs for the jump but spared a final glance up at his father. Even with the barrier jutsu in place, something made him pause.

"Wait!" He stood up straight again. "Something's wrong." That made his team look at him.

"What is it?" They trusted his instincts at least.

"I can't tell," Gaara said slowly. They all watched as the Kazukage removed his mask and it didn't reveal who they expected. The shock of seeing someone other than Father in the Kazukage's place made Gaara's mind go blank for a moment, which was all Shukaku needed to force his way out. Gaara gasped and instinctually clutched his head, as if that might hold the beast inside.

"No, not now." Gaara pressed both palms to his temples. Over Shukaku's roar he was vaguely aware of collapsing to his knees.

"Gaara?" Temari crouched next to him.

"What the hell is going on?" Kankuro complained loudly. "Where's our Father?"

"I don't know," Baki grudgingly admitted.

"You said, Orochimaru. Who's Orochimaru?" Temari asked.

Gaara struck back at Shukaku with his remaining chakra but the beast resisted.

"Temari, Kankuro," he had to get their attention, warn them. "It's hungry."

"We need to get Gaara out of here and if Father isn't here then it isn't our fight," Temari said. She moved to pick up Gaara without Baki's permission. Kankuro stood with his siblings and sent a questioning look at their instructor. Baki gritted his teeth in frustration. Temari sent him a warning glare, her brother took precedence and she was carrying him out of here.

"Take Gaara to replenish his chakra. Meet up with the others. You've got ten minutes to confirm the Kazukage's position. If you can't find him call in the retreat."

"Right."

"Go!"

Gaara was vaguely aware of being carried through trees and Temari and Kankuro still talking about what was happening and where Father might be.

"We have to stop." Temari paused. "He's too close."

"What are we going to do?"

"Take Gaara and complete the mission. Leave this to me." Temari passed him to Kankuro. Gaara was mostly limp at this point, too busy wrestling internally to worry about his body. Kankuro lifted Gaara with one shoulder and hurried through the woods.

"You still there, Gaara?" His annoying brother's voice managed to break through the painful haze surrounding his mind. He grunted in response, that was all he could do at the moment but it was enough to tell Kankuro that it was him and not Shukaku. He didn't pay attention to anything else until Kankuro disturbed him again. "It's just me, damn it!" Kankuro shouted as he ducked a kuni.

"Kankuro, what's Gaara doing here? He supposed to be on the front lines." Some sand ninja that Gaara didn't recognize, he went back to focusing on Shukaku.

"Change of plans. Where's the Kazukage?"

"At the training field with you."

Kankuro cursed, "you sure?"

"I would have heard otherwise."

"That means we've been double crossed. Begin a full retreat, immediately."

"Sir?"

"That's an order from Baki, go!"

"Yes!"

Kankuro turned and glanced behind him. "You picked a bad time to be out of commission, Gaara." He jumped to a higher branch as Uchiha appeared.

"You through running away?" Saskue taunted.

"A tactical retreat doesn't mean I was scared. I'll take you on."

"Wait!" Temari landed next to her brothers.

"Temari, when he showed up and you didn't I thought…"

"I'm fine," she sent him a glance, best not mention either of them dying when Gaara was still in such a state. "I didn't slow him down very long, did I?"

"Long enough to complete the mission." Temari looked up at him expectantly. Kankuro shook his head. She sighed.

"You here that, Uchiha? Our village is retreating. I don't suppose you'll let us go peacefully?"

"You started this fight, now it's a fight you're going to get."

"Saw that coming." Kankuro dropped Gaara on the branch and jumped to a tree between Sasuke and his siblings. "Temari, you take Gaara and go on ahead."

"Huh? But Kankuro."

"Look at yourself, you're all worn out. You'd only get in my way."

At the shouting, Gaara forced himself back to semi-consciousness. "What?" He lifted his head just enough to see Kankuro purposefully positioned in front of Uchiha. "No, you idiot."

"You're in no condition to fight, Gaara. Temari, get going. Priorities, remember?" Temari glanced between her two brothers before deciding.

"No, I can still…" Gaara tried to protest as Temari picked him up again.

" _At last! I've been waiting for that loud human to die!_ " Shukaku, laughing at the fact that his brother was about to be killed, distracted him from arguing further. He buried the demon under a mound of his sand but Shukaku just laughed. That wouldn't hold for long. Gaara opened his eyes again to find Temari carrying him through the branches. "Temari, put me down."

"Are you sure you're strong enough?" She asked even as she did as he requested.

"Go away, Temari."

"What?"

"Get away from me. Uchiha's coming. I can't hold it back."

"Gaara," she was still concerned for him. That would get her killed.

"I'll eat you unless you run now." She finally nodded and bolted.

Gaara stood to face his opponent. Uchiha, still on his feet even after all the fighting, looked down at Gaara. "Whatever you had planned, you won't get away that easily. Besides, I'm dying to see what you really are." As if on cue, Shukaku's mind slammed against Gaara's making him flinch.

"What am I? I'm like you." He held one side of his face while he talked and waited for Temari to have time to flee. "You see it too, don't you? The darkness, the bloodlust. But you have friends, like I do. And they're the only thing. That's keeping you from destroying everything." Sasuke watched him silently.

Shukaku forced his way out, taking over half of Gaara's body with its chakra. The beast was content to stay in this partially combined state for a little while as long as Gaara went for the kill. He swung at the leaf genin but Sasuke retreated into the trees. "Isn't this what you wanted, Uchiha? To see my true form?"

Gaara chased him for a minute but then Sasuke had something to say. "I thought I had friends. But you were right. I never cared enough about Sakura to help her train. She never meant anything to me." He charged in with a lighting attack. "I'm fighting for one thing only, my revenge!" There was anger radiating from his opponent but Gaara didn't flinch even as the lightning attack wounded him.

"This pain, I've never felt this before. By defeating you. I'll become stronger!" He allowed Shukaku to create his tail as well as his arm. "You can't beat me, Uchiha, if I loose here I'll never be able to protect my family. I can't let that happen!" With Shukaku's power he smacked the leaf ninja aside and slammed him into a tree trunk. "I know that look you're fighting for hatred. Like I hate my father, that village. But that's not what makes me strong." Sasuke gave him an angry and disbelieving look.

"Shut up. You can't understand the depth of my hate."

"Hah! Look at me! You see what I am? My father made me into this. I hate him! Hate! Kill him!" Shukaku's emotions mixed with his own briefly, he forced the demon back by thinking of Toph. His affection for her had always been beyond Shukaku's influence. "If not for Toph, I'd be like you. As long as I have her, your hate is weaker than what I feel."

Uchiha seemed to take this as a challenge and charged again with the lightning attack. Gaara met him and struck back. The lightning hit his arm and hurt but didn't cause serious damage. Sasuke collapsed to the tree branch and didn't get up.

"No, he's beaten. Aah!" Gaara tried to argue with Shukaku but the demon forced him to leap at Uchiha's prone form. Someone kicked him in the face, preventing him from reaching his target. Gaara caught himself with Shukaku's claws and saw the blonde member of Uchiha's team.

"You! I'll avenge what you did to Sakura!"

"Why?" With Shukaku so close to his surface thoughts he didn't mind chatting with this boy. Sasuke groaned and Gaara looked at him. The blonde noticed Gaara's stare and went into a defensive stance. "You. You care about him." Memories of his uncle rose unbidden to his mind and he shook his head to dislodge them. "I can't…I don't want to kill anymore. Run, and maybe the demon won't follow."

"Demon? What are you talking about?"

"It's hungry for blood."

 **2 years ago:**

When the adults came to check on them, they found Temari and Kankuro sparing to practice their strikes and parries, Toph sitting in the shade nearby with her dolls, and Gaara lurking far enough away not to be threatening. But the second their backs were turned Gaara and Toph were the ones sparing while Temari coached them and Kankuro sat in the shade trying to attach chakra strings to Toph's dolls.

It was their own secret world, where the four of them could be happy without obligation. When Toph started to get overheated, she lay down in the shade and pulled Gaara down with her. The happiest memory Gaara possessed was of him drifting off to sleep with Toph snoring beside him and Temari and Kankuro bickering in the background.

 **Present: After fight with Naruto:**

"We're alike, we've both been to that dark place. Been all alone. Sakura was one of my friends, she accepted me for who I am." Naruto said.

"…" Maybe people who didn't mean anything to him could still mean something to other people. "I'm sorry." This boy who was just like him, was so brave.

"Huh?" Naruto stopped and looked at him.

"…I've killed so many people. Because I was afraid." Gaara admitted. How many people had he hurt because he couldn't stand up to his father or Shukaku?

"Okay." That made Gaara look at him in surprise. "I believe you."

Sasuke Uchiha landed next to his teammate.

"Sasuke, you're alright. I'm glad." Naruto lay his head down. A second later Kankuro and Temari jumped down between Gaara and the two leaf genin.

"It's alright, its over."


	2. Toph

Toph could admit that a 'girls day out' with Katara had been more fun than expected. It wasn't Katara's fault that three city girls had called Toph ugly or that Toph started crying like a baby.

"That's what I like about you, you're so strong and self assured. And I know it doesn't matter but I think you're really beautiful."

"Really? I'd return the compliment but I have no idea what you look like. Thanks, Katara." She gave her a friendly punch.

"Ow."

"As long as you don't ask you to marry you." She was obviously joking but Katara continued the topic anyway.

"Why would I do that?"

"I don't know, the last person who called me beautiful did."

"What!?" Katara did a double take. "You're engaged."

"No, my parents would have to approve it for it to be official." She said dismissively and kept walking. Katara, who had stopped with surprise ran to catch up with her.

"Oh no, you're not getting out of this conversation." Katara put her metaphorical foot down. "Who is he?"

"A guy, you haven't met him."

"What's he like?"

"Shy, mute most of the time, pretty noble blood, not a Beifong but who is?" Toph shrugged.

Katara was speechless for a moment. "Why didn't you mention this sooner?"

"You didn't ask. Besides, he doesn't live around here."

 **1 year ago: A conversation.**

"Will you marry me?" Gaara asked Toph one evening. Temari and Kankuro had already gone to bed leaving the bored girl and the insomniac alone to chat.

"Right now? No."

"Later?"

"I don't know, maybe," Toph gave him an honest answer then pondered the content of the conversation. "Did you really just ask me that?"

"I like you."

"Yeah…I like you too, Sandboy." Gaara seemed satisfied with this but Toph added, "You're going to have to clear that with my parents, you know."

 **Present: End Second Book: Post fall of the Earth** **Kingdom**

"Screw this!" Toph flung both hands in the air. They were on the stolen fire nation ship with Katara's and Sokka's dad.

"Toph?" Katara looked up from where she was cradling Aang's unconscious body.

"I need to go get someone. I probably should have brought him in sooner, but I wanted to do something on my own. That's my fault. If we had the extra help Aang might not have gotten hurt," she gloomily admitted her mistake.

"You know another bender?"

"And they might be able to heal Aang."

"Really?"

"I don't know. Maybe," she didn't want to promise anything.

"How far away are they?"

"On Appa, a couple days probably," Toph shrugged.

"We need all the help we can get," Sokka said.

"Still…" their father wasn't convinced.

"Dad, it will be safer for you to sail through Fire Nation territory without us onboard," said Katara.

"Yeah, we'll fly out at night, collect Toph's secret reinforcements and be back in a few days. No problem," Sokka agreed.

Once that was settled, the three of them packed up Appa and the unconscious Aang. Appa flew them to the shore line so Toph could orient herself. Toph knelt to feel the earth with both hands. She stretched her sight until she found a familiar landmark. "That way." She pointed. "Fly straight that way." She climbed back onto Appa and Sokka spurred him into motion without question.

"Where are we going?" Katara asked after a minute when Toph didn't offer explanation.

"You won't like it."

"We were about to go to the Fire Kingdom," she pointed out. Toph sighed.

"The Beifong family has an alliance with a ninja kingdom."

"What?!" Katara exclaimed.

"A what kingdom?" Sokka asked.

"The special sect of benders who learned to weaponize their chi and bend more than the four elements. They built their own kingdom right before the start of the 100 year war," Katara repeated what she had heard.

"I thought that was story," Sokka said.

"So did I," Katara agreed.

"No, they're real," Toph spoke up.

"What are they like?" asked Katara.

"They're basically normal benders. Skilled ninja can learn multiple types of bending but, like us, most of them can only control one element. They don't just have the four elements though, they've also got lightbenders, lightningbenders, and matterbenders."

"Matterbending?"

"They call it 'summoning jutsu'. For example, I do some hand signals," Toph mimicked a few of the poses Gaara had shared, "and then use my chi to teleport Sokka's sword over from where he's holding it to me."

"They can bend light?" Sokka was excited by the idea.

"Lightbending is just controlling light to make illusions and stuff. Supposedly, never seen it myself, obviously. And they're all taught to use chi to suppress pain so they can run faster and hit harder, that sort of thing."

"Sounds barbaric," Katara was no doubt making a face.

"Yeah, they train all their kids to be assassins," Toph answered and laid back to make herself comfortable.

"Where's their kingdom? How many of them are there?" Sokka didn't stop talking.

"Their entire territory is smaller than the Earth Kingdom. And then it's broken into village-nations. There's the sand village, the rock village, the rain village, the cloud village, the mist village, no wait the cloud and mist village are the same. It's not important. Anyway, each village is the capital city of its own miniature kingdom. They call them something different but it's the same thing. They just like having hard to pronounce names for things."

"So what village are we going to?"

"The Village Hidden in the Sand. Their territory is the closest." Just saying the familiar name made her spirits rise slightly.

"You sure the Fire Nation won't find us?"

"I doubt they're that stupid. The ninjas don't let anyone into their lands. Back when they separated from everyone else and made their own kingdoms the Beifong family was cousins with king of the sand village or something like that. We're the only ambassadors allowed in."

"So… are you sure about this?" Sokka asked.

"Just leave all the talking to me."

Toph dozed, Sokka drove, and Katara tended to Aang as Appa flew them towards their destination.

"Toph," Sokka called.

"What?"

"We've got some…rock things."

"Plateaus?" Katara was also having trouble describing the land formations.

"Needle Valley, it's the boarder. Nobody's here to greet us?" Toph answered then waited. Silence. "Guess they're slacking off. Onward, Sokka, straight towards the sunrise."

Sometime later they disturbed her sleep again.

"Are you sure we're going in the right direction?"

"As long as you haven't changed course."

"It's just if there was a town out here shouldn't we see some lights by now?" Katara scanned the dark horizon.

"Nah, they keep the lights dim at night on purpose. Apparently it keeps unwelcome sighted people away." Toph said then ended up dozing again.

 **Weeks ago: Desert Library:**

Toph wasn't particularly pleased to be searching for a mythical library in the desert. She daydreamed while Appa flew until a memory of Gaara came to mind.

"It's a spirit library, right? That means that it'll have information on other spirits and badger moles, that humans couldn't possibly know otherwise, right?" She asked the professor.

"Most definitely."

"Uh huh, and what about information on ninjas?"

"Ah, the great ninja clans of the coast. I tried to go there you know, but the guards almost killed me."

"Hey, focus, will your magic library have ninja secrets?"

"No doubt."

"Hm…" Toph considered that until they finally touched down.

"I'm coming too, but one of you will have to read it to me," She told the others.

"Oh right, you sure you want to come?"

"Yeah, I got stuff I want to look up." They got out a rope and hook to use to climb the tower. "Uh, I'm just going to climb the walls if that's okay with you," Toph didn't wait for an answer and dug her hands into the side of the building. She rock climbed up and through the window as the others used the rope. She had to make a quick detour as the roof widened but met up with the rest of the group. She heard the noise before they did. "Someone's coming!" They hid behind the pillars as a large spirit appeared. "What is that?"

"Shh, it's a giant owl," Sokka answered.

"I know you're there," the spirit called them out.

Toph stood back and let the others do most of the talking. She rifled through her pockets when the knowledge spirit asked for an offering.

"Uh, this is all I got," she pulled out her family ID. "But," she jerked it away when the owl reached for it. "I'm looking for something specific. I'm going to need some help reading it too, blind. If you can't do that I'll just leave." From what she could tell, the creature tilled its head.

"Because you desire knowledge despite the difficulties you face, I'll assist you." Toph handed him her family ID.

"Toph, what are you doing?"

"Go ahead without me," she told them.

"She's keeping the owl busy for us, come on," Sokka whispered. Way to be subtle.

"You sure," Katara sounded concerned.

"Hey, I'll be right back, he probably doesn't have what I want."

"We shall see about that," the spirit stood a bit straighter.

"Oh yeah, Shukaku, heard of him?" Toph turned to the large creature while the others scattered.

"I will not allow harm to come to anyone."

"I don't care about hurting him, I just want him to stop hurting my friend." The owl started to walk away and she ran after him in a huff. "Shukaku keeps him up all night! Takes over his body when he's sleeping."

"I'm familiar with the practice."

"So, how do I help him?"

 **Present:**

"Toph!"

"Wha?" She jerked awake.

"I think we're here."

"Already?"

"Either that or we're being robbed."

"What?" Toph sat up quickly.

"Land your creature immediately!"

"Identify yourself!" Unfamiliar male voices shouted orders.

"Identify yourselves, rank and village, now!" Toph knew how to talk to these guys. Might makes right in ninja culture.

After a brief pause she got an answer. "We are Jonin of Sunagakure. State your purpose."

"I'm Toph Beifong! My family has a standing contract with your Kazekage, in case you didn't know. I demand to see the Fourth Kazekage, immediately." Another pause, in which people were probably making faces at each other.

"The Kazekage is dead."

"What?!" That was potentially bad. "Since when? What about his kids? Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro, take me to them!"

"Land your beast and we'll lead you to them." Toph sighed in relief at that.

"Yip." Sokka called Apa down. As soon as she heard and felt Apa touch down, Toph slid off his back. The familiar sand of Gaara's desert showed her three ninja standing in formation around them. The village felt the same as she remembered and she walked towards it without their prompting. Appa trudged after her so she didn't worry about it. It must be close to morning because the sand was cold and the air fresh.

Toph ran her 'sight' over the sandstone buildings and paved streets of the village. Through the slight haze of sensing something far away a familiar presence caught her attention. She smiled to herself, screw propriety her parents weren't around so she'd greet him however she wanted. She bent the sand at her feet to give her a boost of speed as she ran into the village. The jonin shouted after her but they wouldn't stop her. She felt him turn towards her when she got close so she figured 'what the heck' and leapt at him. His sand didn't stop her, like she had half expected, but it did catch them both as he stumbled.

"Surprise! I'm back!" Toph grinned up at him. She didn't have to guess where his face was like everyone else.

"Toph," Gaara sighed happily and returned her impromptu embrace. His sand that was already out to hold him upright wrapped lightly around them both, just an extension of his body.

"Toph?"

"Where'd you go?" Katara and Sokka called after her. Toph ignored them a moment longer as the jonin guards led them through the village.

"Hey, you didn't say you were coming," Temari approached from where she had been standing with other villagers.

"Emergency stop," Toph answered then untangled herself from Gaara as her friends rounded the corner. "I've got my own three person team, these days, just like you guys." She told Gaara and Temari then gestured at Appa and her teammates. "Katara, she's a water bender, and Aang the airbender. The bison's Appa."

"Hey!" Sokka complained loudly.

"And that's Sokka. He's Katara's brother but he wouldn't know chi if it hit him in the head."

"What?" Everyone ignored Sokka's indignant shouting.

"Um, hello," Katara said politely but with a little less of her normal confidence. "It's nice to meet you."

"Morning," Temari walked over to greet them. "I'm Temari. I suppose I should welcome you to Sunagakure."

Gaara nodded, "Allies of Toph are ours as well."

"Aw shucks," Toph teased him lightly. "We just came for your ninja healers."

"You're injured?" Gaara asked.

"Do I look hurt? I'm fine," she hit his chest with her fist reassuringly. "Aang's the one who won't wake up," she added solemnly. That caused everyone to jump into action.

"Let me see." Temari said then leapt onto Appa's back to join Katara with Aang.

"Send for the doctors," Gaara said to one of the nearby villagers. The ninja nodded and hurried off.

"Kneel Appa. Down boy," Sokka convinced Appa to sit with a stranger on his back and in an unfamiliar town.

"You've grown," Gaara spoke softly to Toph while they waited.

"More than you know. A lot's happened recently. I kinda wanted to surprise you." Secretly she'd had an ambition to come back as a triumphant war hero and finally impress her trained killer, battle hardened, super powerful, friend.

"What's the ruckus?" Kankuro's annoying voice caught her attention.

"Floppy Hats."

"Toph," Kankuro grumbled.

"Temari, does he need a stretcher?" Gaara directed the doctors towards Appa.

"It looks like the spine's okay but lets keep him off his back anyway." Katara must have nodded because they all moved together with the doctors to transfer Aang off Appa onto a stretcher.

"Can I put Appa somewhere?" Sokka asked.

"Sure," Kankuro answered. Choosing to deal with the bison rather than with Toph.

"I'm going with Katara, can you get us something to eat?" Toph said to Gaara. When he nodded she thanked him then hurried after the doctors.

Most of the buildings in the village had stone floors, which Toph had always liked. The hospital was no exception so she followed the group inside easily as they set Aang down on a bed.

"He was struck by lightning. I think his heart stopped but I brought him back with the spirit water." Toph stood out of the way while Katara spoke with the healers.

"You have healing jutsu?" An old woman, whom Toph recognized as the head doctor, asked.

"As part of my waterbending."

"I've only ever met earthbenders, myself. I'll see what we can do for your friend," the old woman said.

Sokka stuck his head in a minute later. "What kind of animals do they have around here? Their stable's almost too small for Appa. Ooh, food." The last part accompanied Gaara returning with a plate of what smelled like that sweet dough on a stick. He paused to give Sokka some then walked over to Toph. At the same time he covered the plate with his sand. The sand didn't actually touch the food but hovered above it close enough for Toph to see everything on it. Saved her from having to feel around but not nearly as patronizing as handing her everything. Nor was it a chore for Gaara considering how easily he could control his sand. Toph snagged a stick off the plate. His sand easily ducked around her fingers so as not to inconvenience her. When she clearly didn't want more, Gaara moved on to Katara while his sand flew back into its goad.

"Hey," Kankuro joined them in the hospital. "They're setting up guest rooms for you guys. And we can get you a proper breakfast later." Toph hummed in acknowledgement.

"No thank you," Katara said to Gaara when he offered her food but she didn't leave Aang's side. "I don't know your name."

"Oh right," Toph swallowed her bite then pointed at them with her stick of dumplings. "Siblings Gaara, Temari, Kankuro. Royal family of this town."

"So you're really all ninjas?" Sokka asked.

"In the flesh," Kankuro was clearly pleased by his amazement.

"The guards told me your dad died." Toph said to Gaara while the others were talking and/or looking over Aang. She felt his shoulders tense but he came to stand next to her anyway.

"For several months, now. An S-rank criminal killed him and took his place. Impersonated him for some time."

"Whoa, you're alright though?" Toph didn't offer condolences, Gaara's father had always treated him rotten. His siblings used to too until she'd slapped some sense into them. Gaara paused for a second. Toph could tell that he planned to speak again so she didn't hurry him along.

"He ordered us into war with the Leaf Village. There was one battle. Fortunately, the Leaf Village understands we were deceived and are no longer threatening retribution."

"That stinks." Toph scoffed at the politics of it all. Gaara reached for her hand and she let him take it.

"We completed the chunin exam." Gaara spoke again after a moment.

"You're a chunin now? Finally. The others too?"

"All three of us. I sent you a letter."

"Sorry, I didn't get it. I ran away again. My parents found out about the earthbending." Kankuro must have heard that last part because he turned to face Toph then. She could just tell he was dying to say something snotty so she cut him off. "It was Aang's fault. He got kidnapped and I had to save him."

"You got kidnapped too," Sokka said.

"Doesn't count. Oh! That reminds me. You gotta see this." She let go of Gaara's hand and reached into his sash for the reserve kuni he kept on his person. With his sand he only needed a few for emergencies. Toph grinned triumphantly as she held up the metal weapon for them to see and then bent it into shapes. "I'm the first metalbender ever. And it doesn't take up anymore chi than normal so I'll still be able to outlast you." Her ability to bend far longer than most ninja could cast similar jutsu was a point of pride. Gaara smiled, his version of it anyway. Although his mannerisms were subtle, experience, his second skin made of sand, and being familiar with his 'chakra' allowed Toph to always recognize his expressions. She gave him a big smile in return. "So, what'd you learn?" Her joking challenge successfully amused Gaara.

"Chakra points." Gaara reached over and touched her shoulder. He poked her neck. When she didn't react he prodded a different muscle in her shoulder.

"What's that?"

"Pressure points, nerve clusters. Some are different for each person." This time he found a spot between two tendons that caused stabbing pain.

"Ahh! Ahh! No! Bad Sandboy." Toph squirmed away and then retaliated with a kick to his shin. "Can it, Floppy Hats." She barked when Kankuro chuckled.

"Floppy Hats?" Sokka repeated.

"Cause he always wears dark clothes and thick hats in the desert. Even the blind girl knows that's dumb."

"You don't know what I wear most of the time." Kankuro objected. Toph turned expectantly at Gaara for conformation.

"He sun burns easily."

"So do you, I just don't have a sand shade umbrella."

The ninja got them settled into the guest house Toph knew from her previous stays. Sokka went right to sleep. Katara fretted over Aang a while longer but eventually went to bed once he was resting peacefully. Toph had slept on the flight so she took a short stroll around the village to reacquaint herself with it after her long absence. When she returned to the house, Gaara had a surprise for her.

"I've been thinking since your last visit," he led her into one of the bedrooms and she noticed that the namesake piece of furniture was absent, "you can't see on beds or futons. So I made this if you want it." Toph could feel that he dug a hole in the stone floor and filled it with loose sand, soil and perhaps sawdust or something else she couldn't sense.

"I'm used to sleeping on the ground, you know." Still, it was a kind gesture so she dropped onto the dirt pile. "Ooh, this is nice." She was pleasantly surprised by how soft it was. She flopped onto her stomach. Her vision was only a tad bit fuzzier than on stone. No worse than laying on grass. The pile of sand and dirt would have to be aerated regularly, it would get less soft as it packed down, but that was an easy enough task for an earth/sandbender. "You make one for yourself too?" It would have taken some experimentation to get it this comfortable.

"I don't need one."

"That's a lie," Toph didn't feel the need to face him to speak. "Do you still sleep sitting up?"

"Most of the time I sleep on my sand now."

"Temari still lets you cuddle with her, right?"

"I'm too old for that now." Plus he had always found it embarrassing for no reason. Really, Temari didn't mind him napping on her lap or shoulder. According to Temari, even Kankuro let Gaara lay on him if he happened to doze off that way. Not that Floppy Hats would ever admit he could be a nice big brother, he was a dick that way.

Gaara needed all the sleep he could get and judging by the glum way he spoke about it he hadn't in a while. Toph shifted over to one side of the dirt bed and patted the spot beside her. Gaara shook his head.

"I'm used to sharing a flying bison with three or more other people, not all of whom I like. Trust me, this is nothing." Gaara correctly guessed that she wasn't about to let the issue drop and obediently sat down. He set his goad aside but piled his sand behind him to prop him up so he wasn't lying flat. Satisfied, Toph pulled off her headband and top layer of clothes and chucked them aside. She settled onto her back as Gaara kicked off his sandals and removed a few things. Toph didn't let herself snooze until she felt Gaara's breathing slow.

When Toph awoke, Gaara was predictably missing, he never slept the whole night. Not bothering to get dressed, she went into the dinning room in search of food. Never one to disappoint on that front, the Sand Villagers had left out a bowl of cactus. Toph helped herself and was still eating when Sokka hurried inside.

"Why didn't you bring us here sooner? This place is amazing!" He had an armful of metal that he held proudly.

"What'd they do? Give you weapons?"

"Yeah, they're super cheap here. And everyone, not even nonbenders like me, are trained to fight."

"Kankuro tell you that?"

"Yeah, why?"

"He offer to teach you?"

"Yes."

"Sure, you go do that," Toph waved him off. Sokka paused with suspicion but got over it quickly.

"What are you eating? Ugh, tell me that's not cactus."

"They live in the desert, unlike some people they know what's safe to eat," Toph answered. Sokka shrugged and hurried off. He almost bumped into Gaara on his way out. "Hey," Toph greeted her friend when he joined her in the room.

"Good morning." Gaara sat across from her at the table.

"You're brother's about to be busy kicking the snot out of Sokka for everyone's amusement," Toph warned.

Gaara looked concerned but because she didn't care he chose not to care either and changed the topic. "You're hair's still long."

"Yeah, I like it that way."

"I thought you might have cut it for traveling."

"Doesn't bug me. Stays out of my face." Toph patted her hair. It was thick and always stuck up at odd angles rather than hanging in her way.

"I have two things I'd like to show you," Gaara stated but it was really a question. Toph shrugged in agreement. "I collected these. Village headbands from the nin I defeated or killed. Proof I defeated a strong opponent." He set a pile of metal and cloth on the table in front of her.

"You trying to start a competition now?"

"I just thought that you might like them. With your metalbending you could turn them into armor." Toph couldn't deny that reasoning. Each one was engraved, she could sense so but she ran her fingers over a few of them anyway. "That's the symbol of our village. An hourglass. The leaf village. The rain village. Lightning village. The Sound Village." Gaara elaborated on each one.

"Hm, this is different than most metal I've felt."

"A lot of pride goes into making one of those. It's highly refined ore." Toph didn't want to admit it but she would have to practice a bit before bending them.

"This one's your village?" When Gaara nodded she used it to tie her hair back. "There." Gaara didn't say anything for a second. She wondered if she made a cultural mistake but didn't take the headband off.

"Can you see this?" He recovered quickly and passed her a jar of something.

"It's…metal bits in liquid. Like mud." She answered.

"It's ink."

"For writing?"

Gaara made sounds of shuffling paper then spread the ink over it. "Can you still see it?"

"Yeah, you drew a line. What's the plan Sandboy? Teach the bind girl to read?" She teased even though she was grinning. "Wait, I almost forgot. I've got a present for you too." She hurried back to the bedroom and rifled through her pockets until she found the papers. Gaara was still waiting for her in the kitchen, part of what she liked about him, he was patient. She wasn't so he could pick up her slack. "Here, I got this from a spirit library." She set the notes down in front of Gaara. "Hopefully it says something useful, could be blank for all I know. I still can't feel it, it must be plant based ink." Mother had explained ink to her before.

Toph waited while Gaara shuffled through the papers. "This is about Shukaku."

"Yeah, I asked him for anything he had on stomach demons, removing them, or Shukaku. He was a knowledge spirit so I think he was happy to brag about his collection. He still didn't know anyway to separate you two without killing one or both of you, though."

"Thank you," Gaara sounded heartbreakingly sincere. It was easy to forget that he had gone most of his life without anyone giving a crap about him. After a minute he added, "I can't read this one."

"Really?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if your land had different writing than mine."

"I'll ask Katara about it, then. It's probably just the cures for insomnia, anyway." Gaara gave her an expression that most people wore when they first saw her earthbending. Toph had a sudden urge, she'd kissed Suki but not the boy who'd asked her to marry him. "I'm glad you like it." She stood next to him while he was seated. She grabbed his face and gave him a big kiss on his forehead scar. His cheeks heated and his pulse spiked. "You alright there?"

"Yes." His voice was raspier than usual when he answered. "I've missed you terribly, Toph." He pulled her in for a hug.

"Aw, I've missed you too." Toph hugged him back.

 **Weeks ago: Desert Library**

She followed the spirit for what felt like ages, listening to him prattle on about the ritual it took to trap Shukaku in Gaara's body.

"But how do I undo it?"

"So impatient."

"Hey, I'm not immortal like you. And Gaara needs a good night's sleep sooner rather than later."

"Refreshing to meet a human searching for a cure rather than a weapon." The owl lectured her but she could hear him moving books and papers around so he wasn't completely slacking off.

"Why do all you spirits hate humans so much? Sure some of us are jerks but not all of us are like that." She leaned against a bookshelf while she waited.

"All rituals I have record of will kill your human friend." The spirit announced after a few minutes.

"Great. Well, I'll take what you got and anything you know about Shukaku. Maybe Gaara can come up with something new."

"My books must remain here," he turned snotty again.

"Then copy it down for me! That's the whole point of writing isn't it?" Toph waved her hands in the air in frustration. The owl was silent for a moment then the sound of a scribbling pen started.

"Do you have anything else? Maybe something embarrassing about Shukaku's past." She asked when the owl handed her a few pieces of paper. "I'm not going to kill him, maybe just blackmail him a little bit. He's a jerk to my friend for no reason."

"No. If that's all," the spirit started to walk away.

"Wait," the others probably needed more time. "Um…" she racked her brain for something else. "Insomnia cures. You know anyway to help him sleep?"

"Ah, a widely studied subject." The spirit was successfully distracted. "I have a variety of books on the matter. Herbal remedies, meditative techniques."

"Yeah, all of that."

"Hmm, first medical knowledge, herbs," he narrated as he walked through the shelves. Fortunately, the floor was stone so Toph could keep up.

 **Present:**

"So, Gaara's the boy you were talking about." Once the ninja healers declared Aang would recover after a period of rest, Katara cornered Toph.

"When?"

"After we went to the spa." Oh, that conversation.

"Is it that obvious?"

"You hold hands." Katara pointed out.

"We've always done that." Toph shrugged. She didn't even think about it anymore.

When they were kids Gaara had been really shy, he didn't like people touching him, but he made an exception for her. He let her feel his face and his clothes. It was only friendly to offer him the same thing. So Toph allowed him to lean into her when they sat together, to hold her hand, and play with her hair. She'd gotten used to it and now it was just natural between them.

"And this is where you learned to sandbend," Katara looked out at the sand dunes.

"Yeah, Gaara bends stone about as well as Sokka but I still haven't picked up all his sand tricks."

"Why didn't you tell us you knew another air bender?" Katara turned more accusing.

"She's not really," Toph shrugged. "I mean, Temari's a ninja, they get pissed if you call them benders. She's not part of Aang's clan anyway, so what's it matter?"

"I don't know, it's just we're supposed to be friends."

"We are. This is a secret. Technically the Beifong family isn't allowed to bring anyone else across the border."

"Oh, I didn't know you were breaking the rules for us again."

"Eh, the rules are stupid anyway," Toph gave a grin in her friend's direction.

 **Weeks ago: Desert Library**

Despite Toph's best efforts, the owl still heard Sokka bragging about beating the fire nation and then declared that he was moving his library away from humans.

"The library's sinking? The library's sinking!" Toph ignored everyone else and bolted back to where they had entered. She bent the floor to catapult herself up to the ceiling and then quickly crawled to the window. She vaulted out the window, onto the hot sand outside and immediately dug both heels in. She jabbed her hands into the stone to hold the rapidly disappearing building still. Only then did she notice the other people nearby.

"Hey! Who the hell are you?" They were trying to tie up Appa. "He's not yours!" She released the building to bend a wave of sand and knock half of the men off their feet. She could have taken these jokers but the tower was almost completely gone. "No!" Toph returned her energy to the library before the top window could disappear. Aang finally flew the others out the window, almost smacking into Toph's head on the way out. She sat on the sand for a second, catching her breath after holding up that giant building.

"Where's Appa?" Aang asked.

Toph pointed. "Some sandbenders grabbed him they went that way." Aang flew off on his glider before she could say anything else.

"They stole Appa?" Katara asked.

"Yeah, I couldn't stop them and the library," Toph admitted.

"I understand."

"Without Appa, we're stranded," Sokka observed.

"Toph?" Katara looked to her for help.

"My sandbending's out of practice. And I can't see as far as I normally can with this shifty ground." Toph shrugged and stood up.

"Can you tell which way the city is?"

"We flew here, I don't know where we are in relation to anything else."

 **Present: Book 3**

Gaara's ninja attitude fit in well with the rough and tumble civilization of the Fire Kingdom. And even the idiot city guard could recognize there was something dangerous about him and would leave him alone if he glared hard enough. Like the rest of the team he was undercover and had to leave his goad behind most of the time which understandably made him uneasy. He did, however, use the opportunity to practice his other skills and bending normal sand that he didn't infuse with his chi. His ability to bend without moving a muscle caught everyone off guard. Like a good ninja, he faked some earth bending movement as if he did need in order to further surprise people. It was also satisfying, personally, that Toph wasn't the only one who couldn't read. Gaara could see papers but didn't know the language.

Aang, although confused by Gaara's presence when he first woke up, liked him and kept asking him to show him ninja techniques. Gaara didn't begrudge Toph spending time with her teammates or having friends other than him. Especially Katara, he almost encouraged Toph and her to exchange occasional blows. Apparently, that's what girl's friendships were like in the ninja world.

The only friction with Gaara on the team was between Gaara and Sokka. At first Toph thought it was because Sokka couldn't use chi, which she understood but Gaara's animosity towards him continued even after Sokka proved himself to be useful.

"I don't get it, what's Gaara so mad at me about?" Sokka didn't understand it either, as Toph overheard him talking to Katara.

"You were sitting next to Toph again."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Boys," Katara sighed but Toph thought she had figured it out. She made a mental note to remind Gaara that she could take care of herself.

 **3 years ago:**

"Here."

"What's this?" Gaara asked as she shoved it into his arms.

"Another doll. My mom keeps giving them to me," Toph sighed. "They're supposed to be toys but she gets upset when I play with them. You can have it and I'll tell her I gave it to a friend. You don't have a lot of toys, right?"

"I don't want your pity."

"I don't pity you. You're an awesome sand bender. I'm just rich and my mom keeps giving me stupid things I don't want."

 **Present: Fire** **Kingdom Invasion**

On a mission to find and assassinate a fire lord, taking a trained ninja assassin was a good idea, second only to letting an earth bender lead the way. Toph led her team of, Aang, Sokka, and Gaara inside the Fire Lord's secret bunker. Katara was with her dad and the rest of the invasion force, there wouldn't be much water to bend in a volcano anyway.

The first hiccup was finding a cliff overlooking a lake of magma.

"There's no floor, it's just a river of lava," Sokka pointed out.

"Toph," Gaara turned to her as if she could do something.

"What?" she snapped at him. He gave her a confused expression in response.

"It's moltan stone."

"Oh! Duh!" Toph took a second to smack herself in the head then stomped her feet and called out to the magma. It responded a bit differently to her chi but respond it did. She raised chunks of the liquid and pressed them tighter together, forcing them into a solid. It'd soon start melting again at the base but it would work for them to cross.

"You're starting to get overpowered," Sokka complained even as he took advantage of her stone bridge.

"How'd you know she could do that?" Aang asked as they ran.

"Your waterbenders control ice," Gaara answered.

They reached the main chamber only to find Azula and two earthbenders she had somehow convinced to join her. They fought with her until Sokka stopped them.

"Wait! Aang, Toph, Gaara, stop attacking, don't you see what she's doing? She's just playing with us. She's not even trying to win this fight."

"Not true, I'm giving it my all."

"You're trying to keep us here and waste all our time!" Toph realized. Azula started to speak but Gaara talked over her.

"Toph, which way?" Not one to waste time with words under normal circumstances, he probably had the right idea.

"Because you can't see I'll tell you I'm rolling my eyes," Azula chanted from her side of the hall.

"I'll…" Toph started a retort but Gaara touched her arm, right, time to focus. "This way."

"We just ignore her?" Aang asked even as he started to follow Toph down the hallway again.

"Sokka's your name right? My favorite prisoner used to mention you all the time." Aang and Sokka stopped walking, Toph was tempted to too but Gaara tugged her wrist in the right direction. "She was convinced you'd come and rescue her but you never did." This time Toph did stop walking, this was going to end badly, she could feel Sokka's heart rate race. Gaara must have sensed this too because he paused long enough to lash out lighting quick with his sand and slam Azula into the cave wall. Toph could have done that too, Gaara just did it first.

"Where is Suki?" Sokka got in Azula's face.

"I'll hold her. You continue the mission," Gaara offered.

"But…"

"Go!" Gaara stepped between Sokka and Azula, shoving Sokka in the direction of the Fire Lord.

"You know Gaara, he'll get her to talk. Now come on." Toph waved to her teammates. Finally Aang got his rear in gear. Sokka was more reluctant but he could trail a bit behind, that was fine. Toph led the boys in a jog. "Torture her if you have to," she added over her shoulder to Gaara. This seemed to remind Sokka that Gaara was in fact a professional killer and he finally followed Toph.

Toph focused on her earth sight but her acute hearing could still pick up Azula's chatter from behind them.

"I don't think we've met before. Who are you supposed to be? The-GAH!" The sound of sand being forced down someone's throat had never been so rewarding.

They didn't quite make it to the Fire Lord before the eclipse ended. They did however make it to a hanger bay just as several airships were taking off. Toph used the mountain to crush them before they made it out into open air. Toph then sent a pulse through the mountain, hoping Gaara would know it meant to meet them at Appa. Fortunately, he figured it out. Toph, Aang, and Sokka were back on the side of the volcano and boarding Appa when Gaara and Azula joined them. Gaara did his ninja jump over to them, levitating a less than thrilled Azula with his sand.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"I've filled her body with my sand and cut off her chakra points from the inside. She's helpless." He then proved his words by roughly depositing the growling princess on Appa's back before climbing on himself.

"If you say so," Aang was clearly unhappy about this but also in a hurry to get down and aid the rest of the army so he let it slide and piloted Appa down the volcano. Toph couldn't see anything while they were flying anyway so she took a second to marvel at the intricate network of sand that coated Azula's blood vessels and internal organs.

"Wow," she poked Azula in the forehead. The princess twitched but nothing else as the sand in her body held her still. "Like your own version of bloodbending."

"My father will…" Azula's obnoxious voice was choked into silence by the sand around her vocal cords stilling.

"That's creepy," Sokka complained.

"It's just Azula," Toph dismissed. "How are our friends doing?"

With the Fire Lord still alive, the Fire Nation rebounded from the eclipse attack. They ended up having to retreat. They escaped with Appa and only one submarine worth of troops. Not the win they were hoping for but it could have been worse, besides they had two royal constellation prizes. Azula who was their prisoner and Zuko who had defected to their side.

 **2 years ago:**

It had been a stupidly long day. Toph's parents insisted on her presence while they held negotiations with the Kazukage and several other ninjas. As guests they were spectators at Tamari's and Kankuro's ninja training. Mother made her review etiquette in the evening. When she was forced to wear shoes, walking around was exhausting. Now that she could 'see' she hated being blinded.

It was a little later than usual when she snuck out to meet Gaara. She found him lying on a bench. As she got closer she realized he must have fallen asleep while waiting. She was torn between letting him get some much needed rest and spending time with a friend she barely got to see. Her choice seemed made for her when the sand covering him began to shift. He pulled up sand from the ground to gather around him. Even Gaara couldn't do that while sleeping so Toph went over to say hi.

"Hello, Gaara." Toph paused when Gaara chuckled. Since when did he laugh? When he jumped off the bench she could see that he was also standing with a different posture. Sand wrapped around him in a way she'd never witnessed before, creating organic twisting shapes and eventually completely covering Gaara so he was now shaped like a four-legged creature. "Gaara?" She shifted into a fighting stance.

"Heh, heh, not home right now." That wasn't Gaara's voice either.

"Who are you?"

"You don't know? How can you not know? I'm insulted." He swung an extended sand arm at her. Toph held her ground and bent the sand away from her before it hit. She then kicked a rock at him. The sand beast easily swatted it away but did so with complaints.

"What the? How'd you…" It puzzled this for a second then burst out laughing. "By my giant, sandy balls, it's a bender. Didn't think I'd see one of you again." It sat down, no longer in an offensive stance.

"You came from the land of benders?" This was the first time anyone in ninja country had recognized her.

"I'm pretty old, I just look good for my age."

"Are you a badger mole?" They were large four legged creatures that invented earth bending, there were similarities.

"Eh, we're related," the sand creature shrugged and used its long tail to scratch behind one of its ears.

"Then what are you?"

"Shukaku," it appeared to smile. "I'm unique. I was a normal sand spirit. Then I and seven others came to this land and took charge." It seemed pleased to share its history with someone interested.

"Then you're a badger mole, ninja, spirit?"

"Close enough. I don't expect you humans to get it."

"Wait, you're the monster in Gaara's stomach." She didn't know details but Temari had explained it once.

"You just figure that out?"

"And you're the reason he can't sleep! I should kick your butt."

The creature laughed at her so she had to respond. Like Gaara's sand, the sand the creature controlled was difficult to bend but she could keep most of it from hitting her. The creature didn't even bother to stand up, instead smacking her around with its long tail and bending the sand on the ground into attacks.

"Not bad for a human pup."

"Fight me for real!"

"You that eager to die?" It laughed at her again.

"What did you do with Gaara?"

"Him, he's still asleep. Only time I can get some air these days. Damn humans."

"Hey, Gaara doesn't want to be stuck with you either," Toph pointed an accusatory finger at him.

"His old man trapped me in this stupid human form and you want me to be forgiving?"

"Gaara's dad is a jerk, how is that his fault? Why are you so mean to him?"

The creature snorted in dismissively. "I can't tell you pathetic flesh bags apart."

"Oh yeah? Well my name's Toph. Don't you forget it!" Toph took the opportunity to slide step up to the creature with a double strike. She bent the thick layer of alien sand apart until she could feel Gaara's familiar chi. Gaara fell backwards from the blow, the sand lost it's shape and rained around him. "You awake now?"

"Toph?" Gaara quickly blinked and got to his feet. "Did I hurt you?" He sounded panicked for some reason.

"Course not, I was just talking to your tummy badger, he's a real jerk." Gaara lunged at her and hugged her with obvious relief. "Are you alright?" Toph asked. "Did you have another nightmare?"

 **Present:**

Gaara and Zuko developed some strange bromance out of mutual respect for the other's skill and father-related-angst. Toph wasn't complaining. Gaara remained completely unfazed by Zuko's anger management issues, encouraged constant training on everyone's part, and stopped picking fights with Sokka once Suki rejoined the group. Having Gaara around kept Toph entertained when she might have otherwise been bored. He was trying to learn sand bending as a separate skill from his jutsu. So he and Toph practiced together like old times.

There was some team friction when it became obvious that he was willing to kill and Aang and Katara weren't. Toph didn't really care either way, she was going to kick ass and if a soldier or two hit his head wrong when she tossed him aside, oh well. Aang sticking to his philosophy took some guts and she could respect that, Gaara could too once he realized it was a matter of principle for Aang and not just cowardice.

The one thing they couldn't come to a consensus on was what to do with Azula. As far as Toph was concerned the evil witch who almost killed Aang didn't deserve any mercy. She was against murder but for capital punishment, if that made any sense. Of course, her bleeding heart friends were opposed to Gaara's version of blood bending. But really how else were they supposed to keep her locked up? She suspected that Gaara was torturing her for information when nobody was looking. However, Gaara denied it when asked and somehow the info they were getting from her didn't, so far, lead them into traps so she let it slide.

Gaara pulled Toph aside after a few weeks. He had a plan that he wanted to run by her. She thought it was brilliant. Azula's presence was throwing off their team dynamic anyway. The next day, Gaara left Azula in the care of their remaining water tribe troops. She escaped a few days later.

When asked if they were dating, Gaara said yes, Toph said to mind your own business.

 **1 ½ years ago:**

"Toph, dear, you have another letter."

"Can you read it to me, please?"

"'Dear, Young Lady Beifong, I write to inform you that we have completed our preliminary training and are officially genin. Despite our varying ages we have been accepted as a three person team. I, Kankuro, and Gaara have been assigned a jonin tutor, named Baki. He will be our primary instructor in advanced techniques and our team leader as we begin C ranked missions tomorrow. Most of these missions will be simple chores, deliveries, guarding warehouses, sorting archives, retrieving lost pets, those sorts of things. Kankuro has already begun whining about it being a waste of time but I expect it all to be good practice. Gaara will be joining us outside the village for these missions with only us and Baki as chaperones. When your family next visits we will be proud to be one of the teams to escort you from the needle valley border.

'I write on my brother's behalf to wish you good fortune. Other than what I mentioned above, little has changed. Our village continues positive relations with our neighbors the Leaf Village and the Sound Village.

'Your friend, Eldest Child of the Fourth Kazukage, Temari.'"

 **Present:**

Gaara led a group of soldiers against the fire nation. Toph was taking out the airships and Aang had a destiny to fight the Fire Lord. The least Gaara could do was coordinate the foot invasion and frighten the benders with his jutsu. He hadn't been sure about him being a secret weapon at first. "I had hoped to be past that stage of my life."

"It's better you scare them into surrendering than us having to fight and kill 'em. If you look at it that way, you'll save a lot of people," Toph gave him an encouraging punch in the arm.

Gaara focused back on the attack and went to meet Azula.

"You again," she kept talking but Gaara ignored her and kept walking calmly towards her and the legion soldiers behind her. The soldiers were already tense, probably because Azula was acting even more erratically than usual.

"I knew you would be here. I've sensed your movements since we allowed you to escape."

"You're bluffing," Azula was haughty until Gaara raised a hand and made her body go rigid.

"You were in my custody for weeks, my sand grew into your bones."

"I had it removed," although she didn't sound so confident when she suddenly couldn't move.

"Not even Toph can sense every grain of my sand." Gaara flicked his wrist and made her body jerk. "I correctly assumed whatever earthbenders you recruited wouldn't be up to the task." All nearby troops paused to watch their leader spasm and fight against her own body. "Surrender."

"Never." Gaara picked her up then, levitating her six feet in the air so all her troops could see.

"I give you a final chance. Your father and your kingdom are failing, surrender."

"I'd sooner die."

"Very well." In a reverse of his sandcoffin, Gaara held his closed fist then flung his fingers wide. Azula had just enough time to scream before she was ripped apart from the inside. Thousands of grains of sand tore her apart with the force of an explosion. Her body, still in one piece but with few recognizable features as the sand had also coated her skull and spinal cord, hit the paving stones with a sickening splat. The entire squad of soldiers stared in open mouthed shock. Silence reigned for several seconds. Gaara recalled the dispersed sand, it formed a small ribbon that, still died red with blood, he had hover to his hand and slither between his spread fingers. Face the menacing blank expression he was known for, he eyed the front row of blood speckled fire soldiers. They flinched back as a wave of sand flew from his gourd. "Who's next?" The men didn't need further prompting to throw down their weapons.

Sparing these men turned meant they could serve Zuko when he was crowned Fire Lord. With the kingdoms peaceful for the first time in a hundred years, Gaara opened further negotiations with the Earth kingdom and his village and Toph took him home to her parents. With her returning as a war hero they couldn't really complain about her life choices or choice of fiancé. And yeah, he was her fiancé, considering Aang and Katara were engaged she figured she should be too.


End file.
